The Last Mileage Run of 2016 Part 9: Over St. Louis

If you're just tuning in:

Part 1- Famous Last Words

Part 2- So...Yeah...Um...

Part 3- Miami Elemental

Parts 4 and 5- Over and Out

Part 6- So..Quito...

Part 7- Early Returns

Part 8- How did we get on the Zurich flight??

And now the conclusion....

Well friends another year, another 100,000 miles.  I'm pretty sure I've just about crossed over St. Louis, which by my calculations means I've gotten to my requalification for the year.  It's proved to have been a long day of flying, but that's pretty much what we're going for here.

When we last caught up, our brave mileage runners were landing in JFK, so let's back up a minute and talk about the new JFK Flagship Lounge.  It's only been open a few weeks at most, so I was excited to check it out.  We had about 3 hours, which as it turned out was still not quite enough time to use the lounge entirely.....but that's just how I feel about it.

The space is redone to make the seating more plentiful, and the décor more modern.  It feels like a real first class lounge.  Maybe not as opulent as JAL's Sakura or Qatar's Al Safwa lounges, but probably the best AA has to offer in the US.  It keeps up with BA's and MH's offerings, and beats some of the others, which is an improvement.

 

There's a certain feeling to getting ready to board the last mileage flight of the year.  Just one more jetbridge, one more seat, one more runway, one more takeoff.  You're finally heading home, and delays or no, it looks like you'll get there.  Of course, there's always room for a few more airplane hiccups.  This one was no exception. 

We boarded pretty much on time, even if we personally were a little late to the gate...possibly on account of a completely reasonable amount of free Tattinger on offer at the lounge.  We got safely to our seats, which by a stroke of good luck in routing, were the very comfortable business class on AA's 321-T. 

Then, just as they're finished boarding and preparing to push back...the lights went out.  I don't mean the quick off and on when the plane changes from ground power to regular...it went black, and for awhile.

Let me just illustrate with a real-time photo, shall I?

This is the actual photo I took.  Yes, I took a photo of this.

 

So...um...yeah.

 

This goes on for the better part of a few minutes, then the lights come back up, and the captain announces we have a mechanical issue.  Cue the collective sigh from the cabin.  We then proceed to wait at the gate for more than an hour getting the issue resolved and the sign offs done.  Honestly though, it didn't seem all that long given the rest of the trip.  They weren't seeming shifty about cancellation, so this plane was getting to LAX tonight, dammit. 

 

Update:  And, eventually, it did.  We touched down more than an hour behind schedule, putting us on the gate close to 1am.  Tired, but accomplished, it was finally time to get out of airports and head for home. 

 

In all honesty, if you set out to fly 5 flights to Quito and back in the course of 3 days, including the Northeast in the winter, and you arrive home safely and only one hour late, I think you can feel pretty successful. 

 

Thanks 2016, it's been a trip.  Literally. I've been the equivalent of around the world 4 times, visited new countries, cities, and of course airports.  I've even made some friends along the way.  Can't wait to see what 2017 has in store.  Spoiler alert- it involves more airplanes.

 

Fly Well & Land Safely,

 

~CruisingAltitude

 



Anatomy of a mileage season....

This season's flight paths, yes really.
(via Great Circle Mapper)

Last weekend Mrs. CruisingAltitude and I had some friends over for our, now annual, 'Fall in California' party.  You can read more about it from her [here] at our 'grounded' blog.  Turns out if you put enough pumpkin and cider into it, even an 80 deg  SoCal day by the beach can take on a convincing seasonal shift.  My point in bringing this up is that, after a few glasses of hard cider, someone asked what 'the deal was with my travel thing.'

A slight look of worry then crossed Mrs. CruisingAltitude's face as she warned our unwitting friend not to ask that question if they didn't actually want the whole answer (or lecture as it might be).  However, they laughed it off and said they really did want to know.  In short- can open, worms everywhere.

From meeting other miles and points junkies and addicted travelers, I know I'm not alone in this particular proclivity. Whether it's the latest flight deal or best card offer, when asked we really can't help but give a full....some might say exhaustive... answer.

Maybe it's our personal excitement over the subject, maybe a little pride in having caught that great deal, or maybe it's just simply that none of this stuff lends itself to a short reply.  I mean, honestly, if anyone's devised a way to explain the concept and execution of manufactured spending or valuation of elite status in a charming, witty, cocktail party-appropriate manner please god let me know.  Immediately.  

This is something of particular concern as I'm on 'short final approach' to a whopper of a mileage season.  This year, as last, I'm just under 40k shy of Executive Platinum status with American.  This is, yes, a lot.  Last year they ran a end of year DEQM, making qualification much simpler.  This year, however, it doesn't look good, so I'm doing things the old fashioned way.  I went back and forth for months about whether or not to re-qualify given the numbers involved.  In the end, I left it to fate and passively cruised for deals in case it could be done reasonably.  And, as it turns out, it can.  ('Reasonable' being a very relative term here)

The goal was to get it done in a minimum of weekends away, and little to no time off work.  The result of my search is the following two weekends:

Trip 1- 'The Real Test Of Resolve.'
This is a 5 segment, 3 continent, 22.6k mile round trip itinerary from LAX-London Heathrow-Johannesburg, South Africa-London Heathrow-DFW-LAX requiring around 48 hours of flight time.  Yes, once again, I'm serious.  It is, however, not a 'true' mileage run by purist standards as I have a night (on cash and points) at the Hilton Sandton in ZA and the better part of two days on the ground.  I know, I know, serious bad form there ;)

Challenges:
-Well, 48 hours of flight time, at least 24 of which must be in Y (coach) as they're a British Airways codeshare with no option to use a SWU.
-Parts of Jo'burg require some situational awareness while sightseeing.
-Likely stuffed to oversold flight on the outbound to LHR in all classes.

Positives:
-Long flights means lots of miles with fewer possibilities for misconnects.
-Both TATL segments on American's new 777-300ER (aka Tripp from 'Planes'!!) meaning MCE at worst, and lie-flat business class at best.
-Quite a few other mileage runners are going the same weekend- safety in numbers, and a chance to meet some new people.
-No visa requirement
-Totally new destinations/airports/planes - AA Flagship lounges, Arrivals & GF lounge in LHR!
-Lions.

AA's new metal- 777-300ER
& Animated counterpart (above)

Trip 2- 'Just A Little Jaunt Across The Pacific'
The second round, though a little dwarfed by the first, is pretty hefty in it's own right.  However, some hardcore mileage runners would consider it little more than a rambling tour of the Pacific Rim in 36 hours.

It takes 7 segments, and nets right around 18k EQMs.  It starts with a positioning flight LAX-SFO-ORD, with an overnight at the Aloft Rosemont, before a morning flight ORD-Shanghai Pudong.  Then I have a night at the Sheraton in Shanghai (hoping for a nice Platinum upgrade here) and some time to sight see, followed by an early flight Shanghai- Tokyo Narita, 6 hours to enjoy the JAL First lounge, then the long haul of Tokyo-ORD-DFW-LAX.

Challenges-
-Quite a few segments to make connections on.
-Early flight out of PVG may require a taxi ride rather than the train (more expensive).
-Final day is 18+hrs of flying consisting of 4 segments.

Positives-
-Almost entirely on AA metal, with a high chance of upgrades clearing, and therefore, grabbing some actual sleep along the way.
-2 real hotel nights, one of which should result in a nice upgrade and free food and drink.
-Some high end lounges and time to enjoy them, especially in NRT.
-Segment to NRT allows me to waive the $150 Chinese visa.
-Maglev train to Shanghai (300+ mph!!)
-Sushi

All in all I'll fly 12 segments, to and/or through 8 airports, on 3 different Oneworld airlines, in 6 plane types.  If I call it 'extreme flying' does it make it better.....or worse?  True, I'm probably going to be exhausted once the adrenaline dies down, but from my past experience I'll say there's nothing like walking off that last jetbridge at your home airport knowing you've hit 100k, made a ton of miles, and had an adventure along the way.

Planespotting from the LAX AC

One thing I think people don't emphasize enough when they try to tell others about this pass time (er...lifestyle choice?) is that there are so many reasons to do a trip like this, and you can't really separate them out or give them value independently from the other.  Sure, there's the status and the miles themselves, which we always mention.  They're the tangible benefit- something you can try to put a price tag on.  But the rest matters too, maybe even more in the long run (pun intended).

When I look back on previous mileage runs what I actually remember are the 'war stories'-  The gamble on tight connections, solving the puzzle of how to get from point A to point B in C number of miles for under D price, and the fun insanity of a weekend in the closed off world of airports, lounges, and planes - the only place you can be sitting down to a 6am orange juice and cereal, then have someone next to you order up a Heineken and no one even bats an eye.

But there are also the real, personal, memories- like having the chance to meet up with friends in distant cities as if you lived just one town over, walking through an early snowstorm in the Boston Common when it's 80 degrees back home in LA, or sitting down next to a stranger in row 10 of your second transcon of a Saturday, feeling a little silly when you tell him the reason for your trip....only to have him start to laugh, saying, 'Me too, and I've been doing this since Thursday!!'

It's a strange thing, this flying we do, but it offers some of the most unique experiences one can have.  I've had long conversations with people I never would have otherwise met, seen places I'd never have otherwise considered going, and I've worked, dreamed, written, schemed, and had epiphanies all along the way.

So, my point...should I choose to get back to it... is no, I still don't know how to give the cliffnotes version of 'what's up with my flying thing' without it being either unintelligible rambling about cents per mile, or sounding like a ridiculous excess waste of time and money.  I have a hard time getting the charm of it all across.

However, Mrs. CruisingAltitude had some advice- "Maybe you should work on making the explanation sound funnier."

Okay, funnier, here goes:

".....So a 737, a ERJ 145, and an Airbus fly into a bar....and the bartender says..."

Well... maybe not, I'll keep working on it.  Luckily I'll have plenty of time at 36,000ft to do so.  If I can't figure it out by the last of these segments, it's probably a sign the world's not ready.

~CruisingAltitude

Here we go again....

The 'Goal'....and yes, also an obnoxiously large flyertalk tag behind it.

Well friends, flyers, lost guests who thought they were clicking on something more interesting.... guess what it is again?

Friday? Correct.  Half-price Halloween candy day? Also correct.  The day both LAX got shut down AND United devalued their miles hugely.... correct and correct.  However, the answer I was looking for is 'Start of 'official**' mileage season.

Yes, here we are again, been awhile hasn't it?  Days are getting shorter....flights longer.  Sanity and cents per mile are being tested.

So, I thought it was a good time to talk about what it's all worth in the end.  This year, as last, I'm flinging myself into mileage season to hit 100k on American and earn back my Executive Platinum status.  And this year, so far anyway, there's no DEQM deal to make it easy.  This means we're doing things 'the hard way'- 100k But In Seat 'BIS' miles.

Here's a gratuitous shot of the new AA paint
from the jetbridge for no reason.  Enjoy.

My breakdown of flying for the year is about - 25% business, 35% planned personal (vacation, family visits, friends' weddings, etc), and the rest left to mileage runs.  I've got it locked and loaded- two massive weekends on cheap fares with some of last year's SWUs to make them less grueling.  One per month, some new airports, plane types, and meetups planned.  And yes, while I was in the planning stages my notes of routing, schedules and columns of miles did look something like a scene out of 'beautiful mind' ....one of the slightly disturbing ones, that is.

But, as I said above, for now I want to talk about the bottom line here.  I may not have been a savant at math in high school....or.....ever, but I do take an interest in getting a good deal, or at least 'justifying the crazy.'  

So, here's some of the tangible benefits of hitting 100k to put a price tag on:
1) Double all your earned miles for the year.  Same as the Plat level, but worth noting.

2) The 'big' one- 8 Systemwide Upgrades.  Valuation here is tricky, but my best stab at it is to not go by what paying for the business or first ticket would cost over the econ ticket....because would you REALLY cough up the extra, say 8-10k for a TATL upgrade?  Rather I value by how I would achieve those upgrades- meaning the co-pay and miles route.  This means they're worth $75 + 15,000 miles for domestic use, $150 + 25,000 miles to Hawaii (where some of mine went this year) and $350 + 25,000 miles for international (where I'm hoping to use the rest).  So if we value the miles conservatively and take an average there.... somewhere between $350-$800?? Even taking the low end there you could talk these reasonably up to a collective $3000+.

3) The other 'big' one- Free domestic upgrades + companion upgrades at top-level status.  Also varies by the person and route, but I'm batting 80-90% on the year, on 30+ segments.  What would you pay to sit in front for that many hours?  Could be hundreds, could be thousands, depending on your flight plan.

4) Expanded availability for Milesaaver redemption- this depends on how many award tickets you're doing per year and how lucky you get, but figure on an average year it could save a few hundred worth of miles?

5) Oneworld First Class Lounge access- This matters far more if you're traveling internationally on Oneworld flights.  But a visit to Qantas's premium lounges in Sydney, or Galleries and Arrivals lounges in LHR are definitely worth something!

6) Service- there's definitely value to the EXP desk, premium check in, top priority standby, etc.  These things are hard to value, but if it fixes even one trip that was going south due to a mechanical- throw some dollars there.

7) Intangible or little things that still can matter if you care (I do...I'll admit it): EXP luggage tags, bragging rights, the lot.... (yeah yeah, shallow I know...but it's there).

8) I'm sure there's more....you tell me.

Here's another gratuitous pic- sunset over DFW.
You earned it by reading through all that 'math' up there.

One last point here is that when mileage running you're (obviously) also earning the miles as you go (and possibly some bonus ones due to this year's elite awards at 40, 75, 125, and 150k).  My flights for this mileage season are averaging 4.5 cents per mile (qualifying) and 2.25ish redeemable, and 1.9 when you factor in the elite award mileage.  I've seen people value AA miles between 1.8 and 2.5 cents each....so these flights are somewhere in the neighborhood of "even money" at market value. Plus they 'come with' all of the above, and a chance to meet some new people and see some new places.

The math aside, I often 'check myself' by asking if I'd take the trips anyway if someone offered to give me the flights, even without the miles.  If my reservations about the itinerary, destination, or timing make that a tough call, I usually wait for the next deal to come along (case in point skipping the three hour turn in Dubai in favor of an overnight and time to explore in S. Africa for this year).  

In short, I've decided it's all a go for one more season.  Even if the concept is crazy (depending on who you talk to), the numbers might not be.... right??  ....Right???  Besides, there's plenty of adventure to be had along the way, especially when the destination isn't the reason for the journey in the first place.

Until the next departure, fly safe-

-CruisingAAltitude

**Official mileage season, as declared by me, falls on the non-holiday weeks from the start of November through December.  Cheaper fares, lower business travel, and the perfect time to scramble for those last miles. 

Happy New Year from the 100,000th mile...

                                                             - View of the Caribbean from Villa Del Palmar, Cancun

Well, here it is again- I’m passing the 100,000^th qualifying mile mark on AA flight No. 1692 as we fly over the Gulf of Mexico.  This goes along with about 45 hotel nights, and 5 nights spent sleeping on planes.  That’s a lot of time actually, or figuratively up in the air.  Today though, I’m on my return flight from a fantastic, if short, holiday in Cancun.  I’m returning with some beautiful pictures and memories, including climbing (mostly all the way…no insurance in Mexico) up a Mayan temple, and relaxing days by the white sands and Caribbean blue water of Qunitana Roo.  It’s the last day of 2012, cutting it close for those qualifying miles…I know, I know.  However, I’d rather think of it as ‘expert planning.’ 

2012 has been a good one in many ways for me personally, though it seems it was a trying one for the world.  At least that’s the sense I get after having time to comb through this week’s Economist, Newsweek & Time poolside.  It’s one more reminder of how everything in life can be seen as a mix of good and challenging fortune.  This at least, you can count on.

A sentiment I try to keep close is that there is a big difference between ‘problems’ and ‘inconveniences.’  Recognize what is what.  Delays, setbacks, annoyances…flat tires, lost baggage, are the latter.  If you’re lucky, very few things you routinely encounter will manage to get into the former category.  (Trust me, all it takes is flipping though the ‘Middle East and Africa section of The Economist for me to realize I have very few actual problems)  Maybe for all of our collective psyches, the news could find a way to better delineate between the two?

Back to the present, it’s been a smooth flight so far with a strong tailwind that promises to get us to the gate 20 minutes early.  This (hopefully) should put us on schedule to get through customs and to our connecting flight in plenty of time.  Maybe even with a chance to make it home before the last minutes of the year tick away.  Don’t worry though, we have a plan-b involving the LAX Admiral’s Club, their complimentary Champaign, and a toast with a view of the runways.  Honestly, to send off 2012, it might make perfect sense.

Wishing anyone who might stumble upon this and actually read it a happy and rewarding New Year,

Fly Safe,

~CruisingAAltitude